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Cladivetai (Ligurian Swordsmen)
The Cladivetai are fierce and determined Ligurian swordsmen. Although they may lack the armour and discipline of other infantry, they make up for it with their impetuous nature. Description Along the northern coast of Italia, where the Rasenna skirt the shores, there lives a people untouched by fear, as immovable as the cliffs to which their settlements cling. These are the Liguri. A hardy folk they are, more at home tending the flock than dining on such delicacies as their southern neighbours may enjoy. But do not dismiss a man because he was raised on goat milk. Though he prefers a sheepskin cloak to a purple robe, the sword he wields is still as dangerous, if not more so. The Keltoi have tried and failed to seize this land for themselves, and no doubt the Liguri have the heart and stomach to see off greater foes. It matters not if a would-be conqueror were to bring ten thousand men to this land, and horses too. For trapped in the mountain passes, lost upon the wooded slopes of Liguria, he would soon find himself cut to pieces by the warriors of this land. Historically the Liguri, or Ligures, were a perplexing people. Despite bordering several literate peoples, including the Romani, Rasenna and the Phocaean Hellenes to the west, very little is known for certain about them. Toponyms and anthroponyms indicate that they were an Indo-European people; however, the exact classification of their language is still disputed, with some arguing it to be a close relative of Keltoi (thereby placing it in a reconstructed Celto-Ligurian sub-group), whilst others prefer to classify it among the Italic languages. According to Plutarch the Liguri referred to themselves as Ambrones, although this is disputed, as Ambrones appears to be a word of Gaulish origin likely meaning "of the other side", and thus possibly signifying a geographic quality associated with the Liguri. By the time of Europa Barbarorum II, the Ligurians inhabited northwestern Italy, controlling an area slightly larger than the modern Italian region of Liguria. A Ligurian population was also present in southern Gaul, where they combined with the local Gallic population to produce the distinctive culture of that region. By the 3rd century B.C. the culture of the Liguri was, like many groups of northern Italy, heavily influenced by the La Tène culture. Graves, such as the example from Caffagio, which contained, among other things, a La Tène C sword and decorated Montefortino helmet, provide most of our information about the Liguri panoply during this period. Nevertheless the Liguri were culturally distinct from their Keltoi neighbours in other ways, namely in the production of regional stone sculptures, such as the example from Luni, and in their ceramics. Like their Keltoi contemporaries however, many Liguri found employment as mercenaries for both Punic and Hellene generals, and served in the armies of Hamilcar in 480 B.C. and Agathokles of Syrakousai around 300 B.C. Although the Ligurians defied Roma following the end of the First Punic War and fought a long and bitter war between 239 and 173 B.C., they were eventually overcome. Despite Romani domination the Liguri continued to be effective warriors. At the Battle of Aquae Sextiae the Liguri auxiliaries proved to be decisive in defeating the Kimbroi-Teutones: it is from the account of this battle that the tale of the Liguri referring to themselves as Ambrones originates, after they apparently shouted it in response to the same word being shouted by the opposing Ambrones tribe (these Ambrones were originally from northern Europe and are traditionally assumed to have been from Denmark). Category:Units Category:Units available only in EB2 Category:Aedui Category:Arverni Category:Boii Category:Karthadastim Category:Romani